2016 Range Rover Evoque Convertible arrives – costs from £47,500

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The 2016 Range Rover Evoque Convertible arrives ready to go on sale in the UK, with a fabric drop-top, extra weight and costing from £47,500.

Land Rover has been busy teasing the Range Rover Evoque Convertible – first seen as a concept in 2012 as a concept – with a bunch of wireframe Evoques round London and a video of it proving it can do off-road. But now it’s here, in production guise, and it’ll cost you at least £47,500.

Due to go on sale in spring 2016, the convertible Evoque is pitched right at the top of the Evoque range – aimed at a certain demographic in Essex, Cheshire, Surrey and certain parts of London – and will only come in high-end HSE Dynamic and HSE Dynamic LUX spec, but you will be able to opt for either the 2.0 litre Ingenium diesel or the Si4 petrol engine.

The USP is, of course, the fabric roof – which can be lowered in 18 seconds or raise in 21 seconds at up to 30mph – but the roof, pop-up roll-bars and the RSJs to keep the Evoque in one piece do add a substantial 270kg, a similar amount to always running around with a full compliment of passengers before you start.

But the convertible does seem to offer as much interior space as the normal Evoque, and even the boot gets a respectable 251 litres, although it could best be described as a cupboard, rather than a boot. The Evoque also gets Land Rover’s latest infotainment, with a 10.2″ touchscreeen In Control Touch Pro system.

Land Rover are hoping the new Evoque Convertible will lift Evoque sales when it actually goes on sale – not just in the UK but globally – in Spring 2016.